Haemolysis

[ollie7horse]

Hi hope someone can help, on a recent blood b12 test it read 'unable to read due to haemolysis', doc didnt mention it but mr google scary!

Thanks ollie

[Hidden]

Hello ollie7horse,

Medical terms that we don't understand can be very scary.

A quick google search revealed to me that haemolysis can be caused by certain drugs, an auto immune response but also numerous other reasons.

Are you taking any other long term medication apart from (I'm guessing) thyroid meds?

Have you been tested positive for Hashimotos as one auto immune disease can often be accompanied by others?

The fact your GP hasn't even mentioned this condition would indicate that he is not seriously worried at this time. Perhaps he is sitting on this with a plan to retest you in so many weeks as lots of tests can prove randomly positive only never to be repeated again. Our bodies work in mysterious ways.

I suggest you ask your GP for further explanation and if necessary a referral to a haemoltologist

Google searches can be very counter productive as the stress and worry they cause can be greater than that of the investigated illness.

Easier said than done but really try not to worry too much at this stage.

[ollie7horse in reply to Hidden]

Thanks for ypur help

I have pernicious anemia and self inject 2ml b12 ae week this is not recommended by doc

Ollie

[silverfox7]

Try not to worry. If doctor not concerned then its probably the lesser of Mr Googles explanation! Mr Google says rupture of cells either inside or outside the body. The word rupture sounds scary but look on it as a cell wall breaking. And as your doctor not concerned about the inside or outside the body as outside. So I suspect it's that the sample hasn't been collected properly. I don't mean getting the blood out of you but getting it into the container. Also the gentle inverting may have been a vigorous shake!

[Pamboz]

It's nothing to worry about, it means the blood in the blood tube was clotted, probably whoever took your blood had a problem and it took too long to bleed you and the blood started to clot in the syringe. It is a lab response to a damaged blood sample.

[Hidden]

As the others have said, it just means the sample was damaged. Nothing for you to worry about. Technical error!

[boo16]

I have had it happen to me more than once, just a bad sample for whatever reason. I just get called back to take another.

[Jackie]

Hi It just means the Lab messed up the sample!

Jackie

[Blue2 in reply to Jackie]

It does NOT mean the lab messed up the sample UNLESS the lab took it. It means that whomever took the sample is no good at taking blood. The blood undergoes MECHANICAL haemolysis if the blood is taken badly, which means the blood cells are broken up and the haemoglobin and other cellular constituents escape. When the sample is spun in the centrifuge to separate the cells from the plasma, the resulting plasma is red (haemolysed) from the released haemoglobin, instead of the normal straw colour. In some cases the cellular content of a metabolite is far higher than the plasma (or serum) levels, and it is more often the case that results are based on plasma levels - so the contamination of 'results' by haemolysis is understandable by even the meanest of intellects. Also a lot of tests are measured by colour change and contaminating red (haemolysed) plasma is therefore not much help when going for accurate results. Thus the rejection of haemolysed samples ensures that your eventual results will be as accurate as possible.

[Jackie]

Hi When the same thing happens to me that is what I am told.I guess it could be either.

Jackie

[hawker955]

Haemolysis is when the red blood cells break down releasing haemoglobin and this discolours the liquid portion of the blood[the plasma or serum if clotted] used for testing. It can be due to disease but most commonly in my experience is due to problems with the storage of the blood after sampling. The machines that run these biochemical tests are light-dependent and excessive pigmentation of the plasma renders the test either impossible or unreliable.

HTH.

[helbell]

I had a home blood test but I took too long and the blood started to coagulate before it reached the anticoagulation agent in the base of the phial

[WAHINE]

Jackie is completely wrong and Blue2 completely correct .

If you shake the sample tube too much it will cause haemolysis, this affects many tests.

Some hospitals have tube systems to transport samples which can also cause the red cells to break open if the sample has not had adquate time to clot. B12 is normally tested from serum (clotted sample with no anticoagulant).

The lab did not mess up the sample .... but the GP might tell you that !!